Stocks punished as dismal data on jobs dampens recovery hopes

What's the opposite of a green shoot? Whatever it is, that's how investors saw today's worse-than-expected jobs figures. The news that June's unemployment rate reached 9.5 percent seemed to kill off a fair number of the economic saplings that bullish market commentators have been spotting everywhere for the past few months, sending the Dow Jones industrial average down 223 points, or 2.6 percent, to 8,281.

Alcoa (AA), Travelers (TRV) and JPMorgan (JPM) all lost more than 4 percent to lead the DJIA lower. All 30 of the average's component stocks fell in today's session. Trading was light; markets are closed tomorrow in observance of Independence Day.